I can see many obvious benefits in decentralising WINZ call centre and case management functions to local community groups, at the same level of funding. So why do we still need WINZ offices at all?
Because if we didn't have them, the benefit system would go the same way as the mental health system. It's much easier to get away with de-funding those community groups by 1000 cuts while expecting the same outputs, than to do it to WINZ.
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"We’ve worked closely with job seekers and employers to develop a step-by-step CV builder and cover letter on Te Heke Mai. You provide the inputs in your own words and then the AI enabled builders create CVs and cover letters that help you tell your story – with a bit of polish!"
From an email I got from WINZ. People often lie on CVs, so I guess it doesn't really matter that some will now have fabrications added by Trained #MOLE too ; )
"One thing, it's just going to take a while. These old girls, they've got old software. OK? It's just because that's what the government buys, they go for the cheapest software, that's why everything's crap, and that's why the government's so inefficient. LOL.
Don't quote me on that."
Jeremy, 'Nobody WINZ', 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH23qYXKo-s
#HatTip to @bigblen for the short film link. It's a bit surrealist, but it perfectly captures the Kafkaeque feeling of dealing with WINZ.
Further through the looking glass of WINZ in 2025. After failing to get anyone to answer the phone so I could book a phone appointment, I girded my loins and tried to book an in-person appointment using MyMSD.
It took me through the full rigmarole of choosing a day and time and showing a confirmation dialogue (no address for the office I'm supposed to go to I note). But when I clicked 'Confirm', it said;
"Sorry, MyMSD is experiencing a problem. Please try again later."
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This has gone beyond ridiculous. It's time to allow beneficiaries to select the social service agency we want to manage our case. Fully funded, independently of WINZ, and with the same access to MSD systems they have.
Or, as I've said before, wipe the steaming remains of WINZ from the face of the earth, hand over benefits payments to IRD ("reverse taxation"), and move work brokers etc back to an employment service with no responsibility for benefit payments.
I tried calling WINZ again later in the day, and then I tried again just now. Same answer as the first time;
We're experiencing very high call volumes right now, and we can't answer your call.
So ... automate a callback, and hire some more fecking call centre staff FFS!
Also maybe get rid of all the pointless hoop-jumping that wastes staff time. Like making people reapply every 6 months for a benefit we obviously need, or your data-matching with IRD would have flagged fulltime income.
Now I have to book an appointment, so I can waste my time and that of a WINZ staff member, by going over all the same answers I just gave on the MyMSD form. But MyMSD can only book me an in-person appointment, despite the fact that I'm on a medical exemption for mental health reasons.
To get a phone appointment, I'll need to call the 0800 number and sit on the phone for an hour or 2. Waiting for a call centre worker to book me an appointment. Which they could let MyMSD do.
Today I had an excellent experience with Work & Income NZ... old people's department.
A month ago I discovered that due to an input error at WINZ, they've been underpaying me for a year. While my fortnightly pension payments were updated promptly, the promised arrears haven't arrived.
This morning I received a call-back from a wonderful gentleman called David who found that my arrears had been calculated but had been "awaiting authorisation" for a month.
He emailed senior people and promised action within a couple of days. And we chatted. For 45 minutes.
It turns out he's the same age as me, give or take a month. We exchanged all manner of life stories, discussed mutual health problems and even agreed that Elon Musk is a Nazi.
I realise it would never be officially sanctioned but this level of personalised customer service is rare. It was more like having a conversation with an old friend. Speaking to David definitely made my day better.
And they're going to give me over $6k in arrears! Woo hoo!
Today was a very good day.
I'm so sick of the WINZ call centre putting me on hold, often for an hour or more. When they have the technology to automate a callback, when a staff member is ready to speak to me.
It's especially irritating when the reception bot asks me if I want a callback, and I say "yes" and it puts me on hold anyway. This has happened twice now. Why don't they just do this automatically whenever there isn't a human ready to answer the call FFS?
Pure AM Radio Nostalgia: Vintage Aircheck Recordings from the 1970s by Dan Greenall
#Aircheck #AMRadio #CFBC #DanGreenall #KFDI #KFYR #KKJO #KPCR #KRLD #KWAM #Recordings #VOA #WANN #WBT #WCPC #WDBO #WDXR #WGR #WHN #WIBC #WINZ #WIRK #WJR #WKAQ #WKBR #WLW #WMAQ #WNOE #WOKY #WPDX #WPOM #WPTR #WRKO #WSM #WSMB #WVMT #XEMO #XERF #ZBMFM #ZBM1 #ZBM2 #ZDK #ZFBFM #ZFB1 #ZNS3
Strypey
Bob LeFridge 
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